Yellowstone Trip

We're only a month late getting these pictures up, but we have a great announcement to make.

Drum roll please.......

we finally got a decent internet connection!

Anyway, it will be easier to blog now, and to enjoy all of your blogs as well.

As for Yellowstone, we had a fabulous time. My family is, if nothing else, entertaining. We stayed at the Grey Wolf Inn in West Yellowstone. The kids (my brother brought his four) thought the hotel swimming pool was just as cool as anything we saw in the park. But Mike and I definitely prefered the scenes in the park. It was so beautiful! Our favorite part was the Yellowstone canyon, and the water fall there. There was this great trail that was 600 steps down into the canyon to a viewing area. The kids all did really well with the hiking.

We saw every animal except bear and moose in the park. But we got close and personal to the wolves and bears in the preserve center in West Yellowstone. Joshua even got to feed the bears! They took the bears out of the habitat, let the kids go in and hide food under rocks and trees, and then let the bears back in. Such a fun experience for a 4 year old!

The highlight for Andrew was the imax movie about Yellowstone. There was this great grizzly bear in it that stands up and roars at the very end. Since then, Andrew has been roaring nonstop. Even now, a month later, he roars all the time. No words, just roars!

Lost Blog

I've lost the address for Rob and Karen's blog site. Can anyone out there fill me in? Much appreciated!

Simpsonize me!

My friend introduced me to a fun site. Look it up when you have and hour or two to kill.

http://simpsonizeme.com/ You upload a picture of yourself and it turns you into a simpson character. Here are Joshua's simpson self and My simpson self.

We're still here, believe it or not!

Hello all, and especially Barlow family members! I realize we have been conspicuously absent from the email and blog scene. My many apologies. I wish I had a good excuse, but all I can come up with is: Mike is working ten hours a day. I'm teaching fifteen piano students a week. Both the kids have been puking their guts out for two weeks now. oh, and our Internet is snail slow, which makes the blogging process a little more difficult.
Okay. Out with all the excuses! The point is, we are still here, and we still love you all! So, here's the latest update on us.
We got a pet spider. Her name is Shelob and she is a Mexican Red knee tarantula. So far Mike and Joshua are having a fabulous time feeding her crickets and scaring my piano students with her.
We had a great weekend in Park city with Mom, Daniel, and Becky. It was so nice to spend some time together and enjoy such a pretty place. Joshua loved watching the ski jumpers practice at the Olympic park, and everyone loved the swimming pool at the hotel. It was the only thing that has made Drewby happy for a week. (The kids are finally both feeling better, count our blessings!)
We have been working on our yard a little more too. We planted three very large maples in the back yard, and got some nice shrubs for the back bed against the fence. It is nice to be married to a landscaper, not to mention a perfectionist. The trees Mike brought home were literally twenty feet high! They are beautiful.
Next week we are taking a trip with my family to Yellowstone. I'm really looking forward to it. Jaussi adventures are never dull. We will be leaving on Wednesday and returning Saturday. So I will definitely blog pictures from that trip.

To all the kids starting a new school year ( and adults): good luck! work hard and have your best year ever!

We love you all and thanks for all your comments. Forgive us for being techno-slackers!!

Deck the house with planks of redwood, fa la la la la!

We've lived in this house for almost three full years now, and this weekend I was finally able to use my sliding glass door! I can't tell you how silly yet exciting that sentance sounds to me! I had all the framing done by Friday, so when my brothers came up on Saturday we were able to pound out the decking, stairs and benches. All that remains to be done now is railings and sealant. It is so nice to have a deck! We need to figure out something for shade though. The benches act as railings along two sides of the deck, which saves alot of space. We are loving it! The other little boy in the first picutre is Joshua's best friend Zachary, who lives next door.

I have been hounded lately about my lack of posting on this blog. I have to admit, I've mostly been lazy about putting my pictures onto the computer, and this is where the hold up has been. But anyway, I'm kicking it into gear! Here are the descriptions for the pictures: 1-Andrew taking a little nap on daddy's knee. 2-Andrew's first birthday (boy was he a happy baby!) and 3- Joshua petting baby pigs at baby animal days out at the historic farm.

Joshua's adventure

Today Joshua and I were making ramen noodles for lunch when he decided to test the "don't touch it, it's still hot" rule. Well, His hand now has blisters in the patern of our stove blister. It has been quite traumatic for him. I didn't take him to the doctor because the blisters weren't popping, but it did require some first aid attention. He is protecting his hand with his life, and getting very good at doing things one-handed. These pictures are of Joshua calling Grandma Barlow to tell her the news